Christmas Menu 2010 #4 - Ice Cream Cones

A lot of work goes into a magazine cover, because it's meant to be so gorgeous and enticing you won't be able to leave the shop without it.

...and so it is with Delicious. The December issue, featuring Valli Little's White Christmas Ice Cream Cones, is a vision befitting the Magazine's 100th Edition!

But when deciding to attempt something you see on the cover of a mag you should always remember what effort has gone into the photograph to get it looking the way it does. Believe me there is a LOT OF STYLING & ZSHUZING!!!

I decided to make Valli's Ice Cream Cones for our pre-Christmas get together...and here's the result. Certainly not a disaster by any stretch, but not as "sharp and precise" as Valli's.

Not bad though

Valli makes them sound very simple and while they weren't hard, they were fiddly and a little frustrating, but hey, I'll be better next time....and there will be a next time.

Here are Valli's instructions, I'll tell you what I learned at the end.

Makes 8

125 gr mixed glace fruits
1/3 cup sherry
125 gr dark chocolate
1.25 litres vanilla ice cream, softened
2/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted and chopped

Finely chop fruits and place in bowl with sherry and let soak overnight
To prepare paper moulds, cut eight 30cmx20cm sheets of baking paper. Trim 8 sheets of plain A-4 paper into the same size
Lay baking paper sheet over a sheet of regular paper and bring top right corners into the middle of the paper and then roll to form a cone shape. secure with sticky tape...repeat with the remaining sheets of paper and place in 8 champagne flutes or slim wine glasses.

Finely chop or grate chocolate, drain the fruits and discard the liquid...fold into softened ice cream with the almonds and chocolate then scoop the mixture into the cones, packing down ice cream tightly to get it into the point. Put in freezer overnight

To serve, remove tape and unwrap the paper. Invert cones onto serving plates.

Here's what I did...I bought myself some poly cones from a craft shop to help me with the shape and size thinking it would make it a little easier to get the "mould" right...the thing is though, the baking paper and poly cones don't like each other and are extremely slippery to handle.

Sticky tape doesn't take a firm grip on the baking paper either....and remember, don't put a piece of tape near the top of the cove because it'll be extremely difficult to remove and keep the "point" in tact when you want to serve them

If you use berries, as I did rather than dried fruit, chop the berries up as they can get stuck at the point end of the cone, preventing ice-cream getting all the way down.

I also mixed in some grated white chocolate and thickened cream (about half a cup) into the ice cream with the berries.

Here they are in the freezer.....

...and here's the end result.

I put a drop of green food colouring in the last batch to give them a different look....

So there you have it. Definitely worth the effort...but do a trial run before you attempt this for a big night...and make sure you do it AT LEAST A DAY or more in advance.